


A Reunion

by Nymeria_Lavellan



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 09:05:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9714671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nymeria_Lavellan/pseuds/Nymeria_Lavellan
Summary: A brief scene from "Rise" based upon the prompt of a reunion between protagonist and someone from their past.Inquisitor Nya Lavellan / Cullen Rutherford relationship.  Scene takes place some months after the events of the main quest of "Inquisition", when Keeper Istimaethorial decides to travel clan Lavellan to Skyhold to bring their wayward hunter home.





	

With admonitions to remain in bed and to rest, I settled back against my pillows and reached for the stack of unread reports.  Leliana would be pleased that I finally had plenty of time to read her scouts' dispatches on their attempts to locate my former friend and confidante.  I had resigned myself to a long and solitary afternoon, but I barely finished the first document when I heard a light knock on the door.

“Come in!” I called loudly, wondering again why anyone thought it a good idea to build a room with a door at the bottom of a flight of stairs. But I heard the door open, and the light tread of steps coming up to me. Keeper Istimaethoriel came into view, carrying herself with such grace and elegance that I felt a sudden shame at my large and lumbering self. With a smile and a nod, she crossed the room to the wide windows, taking in the view of the mountain tops.

“This is certainly a very grand castle, _da’len_ ,” she said, her arms folded across her body. “But I confess that I can not imagine one of the People thriving in such a place.”

“You don’t think I’m thriving, Keeper?” I asked, unable to restrain my smile. I was Inquisitor. My Inquisition had saved the world, sealed the Breach. I had done so much more from Skyhold than I could ever have dreamed of in the Free Marches.

The Keeper turned to me and her expression was almost severe. “Look at you, _da’len_ , shackled within their walls. You have lost yourself here.”

“Lost myself?” I echoed in disbelief. “Keeper, I have _found_ myself. I have done far more good as Inquisitor than I could ever have done with the clan.”

She came to sit on the edge of the bed, her eyes grave. “You have lost what it means to be Dalish, _da’len_.” She gestured to the opulence around us, my beautifully carved canopy bed, my antique desk, bookcases stuffed with volumes I never seemed to find the time to read. “Do you know why dalliance with the _shem’len_ is discouraged? Why we exile our people for daring to love?”

I lowered my eyes, gazing at the weave of my blankets. I knew the reason as well as any other Dalish elf. “Because such a union would produce a human child.”

She offered a sad smile and laid her hands gently on the mound of my stomach.  As if the baby had sensed her touch, there was a flutter of movement that seemed to ripple under my skin.  “Our kind are in decline. If we fail to keep our traditions, a day will come when there will be no more Dalish. Only a population of half-bloods who will blend seamlessly with the humans.” She reached out and stroked my hair back from my face. “Do you understand why there is no place in our clan for your child?”

I bit my lip, fighting against the pain of rejection, despite having long since considered myself severed from clan Lavellan. I forced a smile.

“It’s a good thing that there’s plenty of room for both of us at Skyhold, then.”

Surprise and disappointment tightened her features. “You intend to stay. To be bonded to your _shem_.”

“I do,” I replied, pleased by the strength of conviction in my voice. “I have a place here. My children will be accepted here. My _marriage_ -” I tasted the word, eager for it and briefly enjoyed the slight wince that crossed the Keeper’s face, “-will be respected here. No one thinks less of me for being an elf. No one finds my dalliance with a human unusual or unnatural.” I swept my arms wide. “I have built a world where elf, human, dwarf and even Qunari work side by side, without discrimination.”

“Do you really believe that?” she asked, surprised. “You have unusual power here, it is true, but is it the elf they respect or the power you wield? Power granted by their Chantry, Herald of Andraste.”

“I fought for my power,” I insisted. “I _earned_ it. The Chantry believed us heretics until they realised we were their only chance for survival.” I narrowed my eyes. “And I recall that the clan were happy enough with my position when it afforded them protection.”

Sorrow crossed her features and she sighed heavily.

“We did not expect to lose you to them forever, _da’len_.”  

“What _did_ you expect, Keeper? That I would play my part here for a while and then be content to return to the clan, to my place as a hunter, to Taniel?”

She remained silent, her expression stony and I realised that was exactly what she had expected. It was almost certainly what Taniel had expected, too, despite my assurances to the contrary. To have arrived here and seen me, both happy and fulfilled, in love with a human, no less, must have shaken them badly.

“Did you come here to take me back?” I asked softly. “Was that your intention?”

She stood up stiffly. “Your task here has been fulfilled. The Breach has been closed. We all felt it was time you came home.”

I met her eyes and wished there was something I could say that would make her understand.

“I _am_ home.”


End file.
